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"Nnnnn," Komaeda whined.
Nanami didn't even turn her eyes to look at him. Instead, her eyes flitted across the screen of the outstandingly ancient arcade cabinet in front of her (on which, it should be noted, she was currently demolishing the others' high scores in Ms. Pac-Man, high scores they had only had because Nanami hadn't played Ms. Pac-Man before now). Her fingers moved like lightning, and her entire torso shifted from side to side as she played (despite the fact that, again, it was Ms. Pac-Man, which one would think wouldn't be that intense a game--but they would be wrong).
"I said nnnnn," Komaeda complained, poking her shoulder.
"Don't," Nanami ordered in as sharp a tone as a person could muster with as little effort to spare on speaking as she.
"Nanami-sannnnn," Komaeda groaned, vibrating up and down like a small child.
"Give me a minute," Nanami replied blankly, her maximum attention clearly focused on her game.
"You said that ten minutes ago," Komaeda griped, tossing his head back and sighing especially melodramatically.
Nanami didn't answer. She had reached Maze 68 and she was not even slightly willing to give up right now. (She recognized that because Ms. Pac-Man had a lot of screw ups, she was never going to get to Maze 256, but she wasn't too bothered by that.) Of course, she had gotten much farther than this in the original Pac-Man, but she wasn't sure she was going to be able to top her record with Komaeda bugging her like this. Plus her arms were getting tired.
"Are you sure you can't just pause?" Komaeda inquired, poking Nanami's shoulder again.
"No less sure..." Nanami trailed off for a moment. "...than I was ten minutes ago," she finished after a particularly close shave with Sue the ghost.
"If you don't stop, I'm going to keep my finger on your shoulder until you do," Komaeda announced, his finger pressing somewhat harshly into Nanami's scapula (which was, of course, actually her shoulder blade, but Komaeda was generalizing).
"You're going to lose that hand," mused Owari, who was sitting on the other side of the hotel lobby and suddenly found it appropriate to contribute to their conversation. Komaeda laughed to himself at that.
"Stop that," Nanami requested, her voice still mostly empty.
"Pleeeeeeeease, Nanami-san," Komaeda pleaded, leaning closer to her and lowering his voice.
Nanami flinched slightly, and in her brief moment of vulnerability a digitally gloomy sound erupted from the game. "Oh, great, now I'm dead," Nanami lamented. "Thanks, Komaeda-kun."
"So will you do it now?" Komaeda asked with a grin, clearly not at all regretful.
Nanami folded her arms, mulling it over. "You're certain this is, certifiably, a game?"
"Absolutely," Komaeda affirmed. "I mean, come on, you've never played it before?"
"I never thought of it as a game," Nanami confessed. "More as a...misguided activity."
"Nah, it's a game, without a doubt," Souda assured her, also from across the lobby. "Not one of the better-thought-out ones, maybe..."
"Or one of the classiest," Pekoyama added, standing near Souda.
"But definitely one of the most fun!" Saionji cheered with an unsubtly devious expression on her face.
Nanami thought for another moment. "I'm probably going to regret this..." she mused.
"So you'll do it?" Komaeda prompted.
"Yes, I'll do it," Nanami agreed. There were some vaguely celebratory noises from the other side of the lobby.
Some explanation bears being offered. Earlier that hour, Hanamura had had an idea. Now, that was usually enough to scare the others away, thanks to the alarming tendency of Hanamura's ideas to involve exotically venomous food and/or uncontained electricity. But after some debate, a few of the students had come around to the idea:
"I don't th-think there's a high p-probability of us setting fire to something by playing spin the bottle..." Tsumiki mused.
"That's what we said about building an amusement park in the old lodge!" Kuzuryuu reminded everyone. "And, remind me, where exactly did Monomi say we're not allowed to go for the next two weeks?"
A harsh quiet fell over the group as they gravely remembered the time they had tried to build an amusement park in the lodge. (At the time of this debating, Nanami was still playing her video games, so even though she was quiet at the same time as the others, she wasn't really "participating" in the quiet.)
"Oh, Kuzuryuu-san, don't be such a downer!" Sonia giggled, demonstrating a sincere attempt at being cool via her usage of the word "downer." "I'm sure we won't have any such accident this time!"
"Good for you, Sonia-san!" Hanamura cheered. "At least we have one optimist in our group!"
So eventually they had all come around the idea of playing spin the bottle in the hotel lobby. They had procured the bottle and turned down the lights and everything, but there had remained the task of convincing Nanami, who was not totally against the idea of spin the bottle but was ensconced in a wicked Ms. Pac-Man run at the time, to play with them.
Which brings us to the present moment.
"Way to be a team player, Chiaki-chan!" Mioda bubbled after Nanami accepted the invitation. "Now we can all do the thing! Plus, it means we have sixteen people, which is always good!"
"Why is sixteen a good thing?" Togami asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Because it's a power of two," Mioda replied with a deadly serious expression.
"I suggest we begin immediately," Tanaka ordered, checking the clock. "Invading Red Dragon Maga-G will need to be fed in the next hour to maintain his insurmountable strength!"
"Bullshit, you just wanna kiss someone as soon as possible," Souda challenged.
Tanaka appeared to choke on his own saliva for several seconds before stammering in return, "T-try not to pollute the world with your preposterous musings, Kazuichi Souda!"
"Yes, Souda-san, please have some decency," Sonia agreed, defensively stepping a little closer to Tanaka.
"D-decency...?" Souda repeated, clearly astonished. Turning to Pekoyama, he murmured, "Does she even know what game we're about to play?" Pekoyama raised her hands and shook her head in that way people do to indicate that they (Pekoyama) are equally uncertain and don't want to be held accountable for the person (Sonia) in question.
"Somebody's missing," Komaeda interjected.
"Oh yeah, huh?" Owari agreed. "Hinata disappeared! Where's he off to?"
"I'll find him," Komaeda declared heroically before vanishing upstairs. Nanami, whose curiosity about what he might do up there could not be sated by wordly means, followed him soundlessly.
When she got about halfway up the stairs and was able to poke her head up to see what was going on, she saw Komaeda walking cautiously over to Hinata, who was sitting at one of the restaurant tables with his head facedown on the table. Hinata looked kind of pitiful like that. Most people would.
"Hinata-kun," Komaeda greeted him. Hinata raised his head and looked up at the white-haired boy. "Why did you run off? Don't you still want to play with us?"
"I don't know..." Hinata mumbled. "I'm not sure I can do spin the bottle. Sorry, I don't mean to be a drag, but..."
Komaeda sat down next to Hinata, drumming his fingers on the table. "Why are you uneasy about it?" he asked calmly. "Are you afraid you're not a good kisser?"
Hinata flinched back in his seat and spluttered unintelligibly for a moment before Komaeda raised a hand to calm him down. "Because really, Hinata-kun, you go into a game of spin the bottle and pretty much expect that half the people participating aren't very good kissers." He chuckled at his own rapier wit.
Hinata looked away from him, which almost resulted in him catching sight of Nanami, who ducked her head back down momentarily until she was certain she hadn't been seen. "No, it's not that..." Hinata replied, sounding a lot more troubled than Nanami figured the situation warranted. "It's more like...I don't even actually know if I'm a good kisser or not."
Komaeda blinked at that statement. "I'm not sure I follow," he answered.
Hinata mumbled something Nanami couldn't hear. Apparently Komaeda couldn't hear, either, because he asked, "I beg your pardon, Hinata-kun?"
HInata mumbled what sounded like the same thing but like a half a decibel more loudly. "I still can't hear you, Hinata-kun," Komaeda replied hopelessly.
"I've never kissed anyone, okay??" Hinata repeated, obviously at a slightly louder volume than he'd intended. Komaeda cringed from the sound intensity, and Nanami was a little positive at least a couple people downstairs had heard.
Once he recovered from the volume, Komaeda was silent for a moment. "Really, Hinata-kun?" he asked, appearing understandably surprised but managing not to sound judgmental or teasing.
"I just..." Hinata trailed off, his face slightly pink. "I just never had anyone who I would...do that with. And there was never a time when I really felt like kissing someone, I guess."
"Do you worry that it won't feel special to have your first kiss during a game of spin the bottle?" Komaeda guessed.
Hinata shrugged. "I think maybe that's it," he affirmed.
Nanami realized her hand was on her heart, and her face was twisted into a sympathetic that's-more-adorable-than-it-has-any-right-to-be expression.
"Well..." Komaeda murmured. "How about you kiss me right now, and then it won't be such a big deal?"
Hinata made a couple of sounds best replicated in print by the words "d'eh" and "aeh," staring at Komaeda with wide eyes. "A-are you serious?" he demanded in a whisper.
"Isn't it a good idea?" Komaeda defended. "You'll have it out of the way, so you won't have to worry about it during the game."
"And you don't think it'll be weird, at all," Hinata summarized with a thoroughly amazed expression on his face.
"Right before we go downstairs and kiss everyone else?" Komaeda reminded him. "I get the feeling one kiss by ourselves isn't going to make much of a difference."
Hinata fidgeted in his seat. "Okay, I guess it is a good idea."
Nanami couldn't help feeling, first of all, like Hinata had given in to that really easily, and second of all, like she really shouldn't be watching this. But she couldn't pull herself away. This was easily the most interesting thing she had seen all day, and try as she might she was unable to make her legs move down the stairs.
Komaeda scooted a couple inches closer to Hinata and placed his hands on the just-barely-shorter-by-like-half-an-inch boy's shoulders. Hinata placed his own hands on his lap after some brief confusion on where would be a good place for them. Komaeda scooted another inch or so and relocated his hands on Hinata's cheeks before pulling his face closer.
Okay, Nanami really needed to leave. She recognized that...so why in the hell was she so aware that she couldn't tear her eyes away from this?
Komaeda pressed his lips to Hinata's, and both boys closed their eyes. They stayed there for about ten seconds, with Komaeda very pointedly placing one hand on Hinata's hip halfway through, before separating.
"Wow," Hinata observed.
"Was it not to your expectations?" Komaeda asked worriedly. "I mean, I know I'm probably a huge failure at that kind of thing, just like I am at everything else..."
"No, it was..." Hinata mumbled. "I didn't expect it to feel so nice."
"Oh," Komaeda replied with an embarrassed grin. "Well, I'm glad I was able to help out. Do you think you can participate with the rest of us now?"
"Yeah, let's go," Hinata agreed, standing from the table.
Shit shit shit, was basically Nanami's train of thought as she basically leaped down the stairs back to the lobby. Praying to whatever gods were listening that neither of the boys had seen her, she positioned herself near the arcade game she had been playing before and tried to look natural. Hinata entered the lobby shortly after, followed closely by Komaeda.
"It should be noted," Koizumi was busy declaring as the boys walked in, "that the entire premise of spin the bottle is inherently flawed. Supposedly, it's pure chance what person the bottle ends up pointing to, but that's not going to work in our situation! I mean, we have Super High-school Level Good Luck right here," she concluded, pointing to Komaeda when she noticed he was present.
"Well, we'll just have to make Nagito-chan promise he won't manipulate the game!" Mioda figured.
"Oh, trust me," Komaeda laughed, raising both hands to defend himself. "I promise I won't do anything unseemly."
"Okay, we're good to go, right?" Hanamura announced. "Okay, everyone gather around in a circle! Not a sort-of-circle-that's-actually-a-really-bad-oval, a circle, please!"
Once all sixteen of them had formed a circle, Hanamura delicately placed the bottle in the center, pointing toward himself. "I trust you all know standard spin the bottle rules, but let me give you a rundown just in case," he explained. "The first time you get paired with someone, it's a quick peck; the second time you get that person, you use tongue; the third time--"
"We'll talk about that if it happens!" Nidai interrupted, pounding his palm with his fist. "There's certainly no need to discuss it in detail right now!"
"Sure, sure," Hanamura acknowledged. "I'll go first, since my name is first alphabetically," he reasoned.
"Maybe Tsumiki should go first, since her name is last alphabetically!" Saionji snickered.
Tsumiki gasped much more loudly than anyone should have gasped at that remark. "N-no!" she insisted. "I-I couldn't p-possibly...please, Hanamura-san, do the honors...!"
"With pleasure!" Hanamura chuckled, reaching forward and giving the bottle a very professional-looking spin. The bottle, which, it can be noted, had originally stored sparkling cider which Hanamura had more or less inhaled to provide an empty bottle, made the rounds a few times before eventually slowing down and coming to a stop with its neck pointed at Pekoyama.
"Oh good Lord," the swordswoman deadpanned.
She looked around at some of the others, as if expecting someone to intercede. "You gotta do it, Pekoyama-san," Komaeda told her with a grin.
"You do realize that sitting down, I'm almost taller than you are standing up," Pekoyama noticed, a tired gaze fixed on Hanamura as she exited her cross-legged pose and leaned directly to her right toward the Super High-school Level Cook.
"I don't see that as a problem!" Hanamura assured her as he leaned to his left. It was an extremely humorous and awkward sight to see as Hanamura at all of 4'4" stretched upward to kiss Pekoyama at 5'7". They touched for an impossibly brief instant before Pekoyama jerked her head back and returned to her place in the circle.
The standard whistling and giggling ensued, punctuated by a "When's the wedding?" from Souda. Pekoyama silenced almost everyone with a blistering glare.
When no action was taken after another few seconds, Tanaka noted, "Recall that you are now obligated to unleash the winds of chance upon the heavenly vessel, stoic one."
"Oh, right," Pekoyama answered. "My apologies--I was still reeling from the experience and forgot that it's my turn."
She appeared to tap the bottle very lightly, but it began to spin very quickly from the force. It spun all the way around the circle several times before slowing and stopping with its neck directed at Mioda.
"Sweet!" Mioda beamed. "Ibuki was willing the bottle to stop on her, you know!"
"Don't be so excited," Saionji giggled. "Big Sis Pekoyama's lips probably taste like gravel!"
"She's actually got on a really nice strawberry lip balm," Hanamura declared. "It's a little greasy, but it tastes delightful."
"Hey!" Mioda complained. "You ruined the surprise for Ibuki!"
"Is there any way we can get this over with?" Pekoyama asked, already having leaned forward again.
"Sure thing, Peko-chan!" Mioda assured her, getting on her hands on knees which made the whole thing look even more weird than it needed to. The swordswoman and light music club member connected lips for an instant no longer than the one between Pekoyama and Hanamura before Pekoyama, again, abruptly ended the kiss.
"I think I've seen heaven," Souda concluded. He was sitting immediately to Pekoyama's left and earned a hard slap on the back of the head for this comment.
"Go for it, Ibuki-chan!" Koizumi encouraged. Mioda nodded vigorously and took hold of the bottle, obviously preparing to spin it intensely. However, she had neither the kitchen acumen of Hanamura nor the quiet grace of Pekoyama, and the bottle just tumbled clumsily a few degrees counterclockwise.
The bottle was pointing about halfway between Mioda and Kuzuryuu now, and the look on the Super High-school Level Gangster's face indicated to Mioda that she should really just give the bottle another spin. So she did that, and she got a slightly better rotation on it this time which resulted in the bottle pointing at Tsumiki. "Score!" Mioda almost squeaked, banging her fists on the floor.
Tsumiki's eyes went wide. "O-oh, oh goodness..." she fretted, shifting uncomfortably in her spot. "Um, o-okay..."
"C'mere, Mikan-chan!" Mioda giggled, wiggling her eyebrows with almost exaggerated purpose. She did the getting on her hands and knees thing again and basically crawled the entire way over to Tsumiki without the nurse moving at all. Although to be fair, they were separated only by Komaeda, so it wasn't that long a trek. Without any measurable hesitation, Mioda pressed a kiss to Tsumiki's lips, giving everybody a view of a) Komaeda's besmused reaction at the sight of people kissing directly in front of him, and b) the unconcealed terror on Tsumiki's face as Mioda accosted it. The musician ultimately pulled away after about five seconds, though, and retreated back to her place.
Tsumiki trembled like a particularly small dog and swallowed loudly. "S-so, now I have to spin it too...?" she assumed, reaching a hilariously shaky hand toward the bottle and twirling it lightly. It went a little farther than a single half-circle, appeared to be ready to stop on Hinata, but went just a little farther until it was pointing at Saionji and very close to stopping.
"Keep going keep going keep going," Saionji instructed, her eyes trained on the bottle as if she could move it with her mind. The bottle just barely followed her directions and instead stopped on Tanaka. "Hell yes!" Saionji cheered, apparently ecstatic at not having to kiss Tsumiki.
"Fear not, timorous one," Tanaka assured the Super High-school Level Nurse. "I will not keep you for long."
"Th-that's...comforting, I guess?" Tsumiki mumbled, her entire body tensing up as Tanaka leaned forward and to the left, looking a lot taller than he actually was like he always did. Tsumiki moved slightly forward and to the right to meet him, and they kissed for pretty much exactly a half a second before they both pulled away shuddering.
Tanaka wasted no time in spinning the "heavenly vessel," as he called it, and after two full cycles it stopped on Souda. "Oh for cryin' out loud," Souda groaned.
"Come on, Souda, you can do it," Koizumi said with a smirk.
"This is so not what I should be doing right now," Souda grumbled, leaning forward as Tanaka did the same. The animal breeder and the mechanic connected for a short moment (longer, though, than with Tanaka and Tsumiki, and pretty much everyone noticed that), before Tanaka hastily returned to his spot and began to carefully study his hamsters.
"Notice we haven't had any repeat people yet," Kuzuryuu observed. "Komaeda, are you sure you're not fucking anything up?"
"Kuzuryuu-kun, please!" Komaeda laughed. "What reason would I have to manipulate the outcome here?"
Souda had already spun the bottle at that point and was watching it intensely at it began to slow down. His eyes shifted quickly from the bottle to Sonia and back again as it looked like it might stop on the Super High-school Level Princess. However, it ultimately evaded Sonia, passed straight by Nidai as well, and came to a halt pointing at Nanami. "Oh," Nanami concluded.
"Fuck's sake," Souda moaned. "A'ight, you gonna come over here or not?" he added when Nanami remained steadfastly in her spot.
Truth be told, Nanami was in Hinata's boat (that is, the boat Hinata had been in until his recent moment with Komaeda). She hadn't ever had the opportunity to kiss someone; if she was being really honest, which she wasn't really prepared to be because it was kind of humiliating to admit, she'd never even dated. So this was sort of a weird moment for her, but regardless she scooted over to Souda and pressed her lips to his for a couple of seconds. "Cool," she decided with a shrug, and scooted back to her spot.
And now it was her turn. She stared down at the bottle, somewhat anxiously, and gave it a spin. It made a single rotation and then went just a little past her before stopping on Komaeda.
"I CALL FOUL!" Nidai barked instantly, pointing aggressively at Komaeda.
"...Please lower your voice," Nanami requested, sitting immediately to the right of him and cupping her left ear for effect. "I honestly don't think Komaeda-kun would use his luck to get paired with me."
"Aw, don't sell yourself short, Nanami-san," Komaeda assured her, maneuvering around Tsumiki and Togami to get to the Super High-school Level Gamer. He placed a hand on her cheek and pressed a brief kiss to her lips--Nanami kept her eyes open the entire time, which probably looked a little funny--before returning to his place in the circle. "Okay, now it's my turn, yes?" he presumed, taking hold of the bottle and twirling it with a flourish. It didn't move very quickly, but it went on for a while, making almost three full cycles before stopping with the neck pointing at Hinata.
Hinata blinked a few times before looking up at Komaeda, who had a shit-eatingly pleasant smile on his face. "Go for it, man," Owari encouraged with a grin and a raised eyebrow in Komaeda's direction.
Hinata, already sitting in a kneeling position (Nanami was amazed that he wasn't in unbearable pain--it always hurt like hell when she did that), simply leaned forward, while Komaeda copied Mioda and crawled over. Hinata cleared his throat before placing his hands on Komaeda's shoulders to steady himself and very briefly (much more briefly, Nanami noted, than upstairs) kissing him. Komaeda hummed at the sensation, causing Saionji to snort very loudly and a few others to snicker to themselves.
Nanami herself giggled a little at the sight, finding it both funny and endearing that Hinata had been fine kissing Komaeda upstairs but seemed immensely embarrassed to do so here, in front of everyone. Meanwhile, Hinata spun the bottle himself and carefully watched its movement. It made one full rotation and began to slow. As it looked like the bottle might stop after exactly a second cycle, Hinata asked, "What do I do if it stops on me?"
However, the bottle just missed him and ended up pointing at Koizumi. "Spin again," Saionji ordered in an alarmingly dogmatic tone.
"You have to do it, Hinata-kun," Hanamura chuckled.
"Spin again," Saionji repeated, pinching Hinata's arm, apparently very harshly because he snatched his arm away immediately.
"It's okay, Hiyoko-chan," Koizumi assured her, looking past Hinata at the classical dancer. "Let's just get this over with," she added, speaking to Hinata.
"Uh, sure," Hinata affirmed, sounding appropriately kind of insulted at Koizumi's total indifference. He leaned to the side as Koizumi did the same, and their lips met for what was coming to be seen as the standard "brief moment" before they pulled away. Hinata looked ambivalent; Koizumi looked irritated.
"Oh, come on," the photographer criticized. "You wanna put a little backbone into it next time? I mean, kiss like a man. Komaeda, for real, I'm sorry you had to experience that."
Hinata now looked more than kind of insulted. Almost everyone else laughed, at varying volumes, at Koizumi's evaluation. Koizumi elected not to notice any of these reactions and instead devoted what appeared to be a great deal of concentration into spinning the bottle.
The bottle spun very evenly, never wobbling, for almost ten seconds before slowing down and stopping with the neck pointing at Saionji. "And that is how you play spin the bottle," Koizumi announced with a grin.
"No way, you meant for that to happen?" Kuzuryuu demanded. "Bullshit, I call bullshit."
"It's basic physics," Koizumi told him. "If you keep in mind the angle you want it to travel, all you have to keep track of is the force you apply."
"Wasn't it you, Koizumi, saying you wanted to keep the game fair?" Togami reminded her.
"Oh come on, you don't play fair at spin the bottle," Souda cut in. "Everybody has certain people they wanna land on."
"I love how none of us even question that Koizumi was aiming for Saionji," Owari remarked as Saionji and Koizumi basically leaned over Hinata to give each other a short but sincere-looking kiss. Hinata scooted back a little to give them some room.
"Okay," Saionji said to herself, rubbing her hands together as if preparing to stake a large wager in a card game. She spun the bottle, and achieved a result not much different than Mioda's first attempt. The bottle hobbled about a half-circle clockwise, sort of pointing at Togami and very much having left the center of the circle when it was done. Saionji was silent for a few seconds. "I'm doing that again," she decreed.
"You can't just ask for a do-over whenever--" Souda began.
"I am doing it again," Saionji repeated, her voice rising exponentially in volume as she neared the end of the sentence. She gripped the bottle tightly and forcefully spun it again. This attempt was slightly better, and the bottle made one full circle and then another quarter of one, pointing at Mioda when its journey was over.
"Oh, look who just got their second turn of the game!" Hanamura commented.
"It would seem Mioda-san is...what is the word? Pimping?" Sonia inquired. Everyone was momentarily astonished.
Once again, Mioda crawled on her hands and knees, skirting around Kuzuryuu, Owari, and Tanaka before she reached the classical dancer. Saionji was small enough that Mioda was able to remain on all fours to kiss her.
"What a letdown, ha ha!" Saionji laughed as Mioda returned to her spot (and didn't look at all affected by the remark, by the way). "After Big Sis Koizumi, I mean," the dancer added as if that made it any less rude.
Mioda grinned down at the bottle and gave it a quick twist. It spun slowly through almost one full cycle before stopping on Togami. "Aw, shucks!" the musician cooed. "Ibuki was hoping to continue her cute girl winning streak, but Byakuya-chan will certainly do!"
Togami looked stunned. Mioda took advantage of the moment in which he was stunned to crawl over to him and press a small kiss to his lips. Togami winced back, his face going white and looking particularly disgusted. Mioda didn't seem to notice.
"Okay, Togami-kun, your turn!" Komaeda reminded him after a moment.
"I changed my mind, I won't be participating," Togami announced.
"Ha ha, Big Bro Togami's already scared after just one kiss!" Saionji giggled with a jagged grin.
"Can't you be more courageous?" Koizumi wondered with a scornful expression. "I mean, be a man for God's sake."
"Fine," Togami decided, rolling his eyes. He gave the bottle a rather expert spin, and it spun for a few seconds before stopping on Sonia.
"Rude," Souda criticized, giving him a tired glare.
"What was that, Souda-san?" Sonia asked, tilting her head to the side.
"N-nothing, Sonia-san!" Souda assured her. "Nothing important, really."
Togami and Sonia met eyes but didn't move at all toward each other. The others realized they were probably each expecting the other to come to them; they were both functional gods in society, after all. After both of them realized the other wasn't moving, they decided to both move, each of them closing the distance halfway. Togami remained sitting, while Sonia got on her knees and briefly kissed Togami, placing one hand on his cheek. Sonia smiled wide and returned to her spot; Togami didn't seem half as impressed and also returned to his seat.
"Okay, I guess it's my turn!" Sonia cheered.
"The excitement you bring to this game is adorable, Sonia-san," Hanamura noted.
Nobody except Sonia didn't notice Souda concentrating intensely on the bottle as it spun around a couple of rotations, but when it began to slow down it missed Souda completely. It then shifted past Koizumi, Hinata, Saionji, Tanaka, and finally Owari before coming to a stop pointing to Kuzuryuu.
"Jesus," Souda grumbled to himself, emphasizing the "us" part of the word.
"Damnit, fine," Kuzuryuu whined, scooting on his knees (again, Nanami couldn't help thinking that had to be hideously uncomfortable) over to Sonia, who again remained stationary. However, the amusing sight of five-foot Kuzuryuu having to lean slightly upward to kiss Sonia was totally overshadowed by a burning stare from Pekoyama, who apparently took it upon herself to ensure that Sonia didn't try anything weird.
"Lovely!" Sonia remarked after the kiss, causing almost everybody to choke on air. Kuzuryuu's face took on a bewildered look as well as the color of a pencil eraser.
Once that was over, the Super High-school Level Gangster took the bottle and spun it kind of aggressively. However, it still didn't travel very far, coming to a quick stop on Pekoyama.
"Congratulations, Peko-chan!" Mioda cooed. "You got a second turn, just like Ibuki did!"
"Hmph," Owari hmphed, crossing her arms. "Lucky bastards. I haven't even got one turn, and the two of you have gotten two."
"Sorry, Owari-san, that's just how this game works sometimes!" Komaeda chuckled as Kuzuryuu leaned forward to kiss Pekoyama. Both the gangster and swordswoman shifted uncomfortably during the exchange, inciting a snicker from Saionji.
"How many turns are we doing this for?" Nanami wondered as Pekoyama gave the bottle a delicate spin.
"I guess until everyone's had a turn...?" Hanamura supposed, clearly not having thought that far ahead.
The bottle stopped, pointing at Koizumi. "Oh," Koizumi exclaimed.
"I guess that won't be soon," Owari noted, reminding everyone for the second time in fifteen seconds that she hadn't yet been able to kiss anyone.
Pekoyama pulled some kind of gymnastics or something to lean over Souda without actually seeming to get up from her spot. Koizumi moved minimally to reach the swordswoman, and their lips met almost unnoticeably before Pekoyama pulled away as jerkily as she had with Hanamura and Mioda.
"Okay, let's see here..." Koizumi mumbled to herself, her hand hovering over the bottle as she appeared to focus extensively on the position of the bottle.
"Hey, no using your bullshit 'basic physics' this time," Kuzuryuu ordered her.
Koizumi smirked at him and spun the bottle. It once again spun perfectly evenly for a few cycles before stopping on Saionji. "Whoops," she declared unapologetically, raising her eyebrows in punctuation.
"Are you planning on exercising that sort of premeditation for the duration of the game?" Tanaka asked tiredly.
"You can't make me do anything," Koizumi announced, staring straight at Tanaka determinedly.
"Remember, Koizumi-san," Hanamura offered, "this time, since it's your second time kissing Saionji-san--"
"Yeah yeah, we got it," Saionji cut him off with a slight glare. She hopped to her feet from lotus position (okay, Nanami really didn't think that was possible, but okay) and walked the couple of steps around Hinata before getting on her knees in front of the Super High-school Level Photographer. Each of the students made the executive decision to either stare intently or really obviously avert their eyes as Saionji and Koizumi's lips met for a conspicuously more extended moment than any of the other pairs up until now.
"That's not even kinda fair," Owari complained when Saionji and Koizumi separated. "You shouldn't be allowed to use physics if none of the rest of us know how!"
"Tough noogies, Big Sis Owari!" Saionji laughed, raising her hands up in the air with a delighted expression as she returned to her place in the circle. She then gave the bottle her third spin of the game; this one was basically between the first attempt of her last spin and the second attempt, in terms of competence. It wobbled intensely as it spun but didn't completely leave the center of the circle, and it stopped on Komaeda.
"Oh, delightful!" Komaeda remarked with a pleasant smile.
"I'm spinning again," Saionji announced, glaring at him.
"Saionji, the rules do not permit you to spin again every time you get someone you don't want!" Nidai chastised. "And the rules are there for a reason! To keep the game fair!"
"Okay, and to your point," Saionji answered, "I am spinning again."
"Hiyoko-chan, you have to play fair," Koizumi scolded her softly. "That's the whole point of it being a fun game, you know?"
"Says 'basic physics lets me choose whoever I want' chick over here," Souda muttered. Koizumi flicked the side of his head without even turning to look at him.
"Fine, I guess I'll do it," Saionji sighed dramatically.
"That's a very high honor, Saionji-san," Komaeda crooned with a somewhat too-sweet smile. "That someone as talented as yourself would be willing to kiss someone as lowly as me..."
"Yeah, uh-huh whatever, just get over here," Saionji commanded, appearing rather restless and annoyed. Komaeda crawled over to Saionji (at this point Mioda started to look slightly cheated that he had stolen her move), which, in addition to his generally bony structure, made him look almost smaller than Saionji herself. He pressed his lips to Saionji's for a couple seconds, during which Saionji's expression seemed to indicate that she was internally evaluating his performance and giving him a rather intermediate score. Komaeda then slinked back to his spot and studied the bottle for a moment.
"Okay, who was wearing cinnamon lip gloss when they kissed you?" Saionji asked, running her tongue over her lips with a discomforted expression.
Nanami raised her hand vaguely, but nobody noticed. As everyone recalled which two people Komaeda had already kissed before Saionji, they all seemed to remember Hinata more than Nanami, probably because Komaeda's kiss with Hinata had been so much more memorably funny. So everybody stared at Hinata. "Well, it wasn't me," Hinata assured them, sounding rather confused as to what would make them come to that conclusion.
"That was me, sorry," Nanami explained, basically alerting everyone to her presence.
"Don't wear that again," Saionji instructed with a slightly nauseated face. Nanami wasn't sure what to make of that.
Komaeda continued staring the bottle down for another second or two before spinning it very quickly. It went around a few times before stopping on Hinata again.
"Okay, Koizumi's got her physics shit which doesn't make sense 'cause she's a fucking photographer," Kuzuryuu interjected with a raised eyebrow. "What's your excuse?"
"You said you weren't going to use your luck to manipulate the outcome!" Koizumi reminded him.
"Well, it's not something I 'use,'" Komaeda simpered with a grin. "It's not even something I can control. It just happens, really!"
"Ibuki smells the fish!" Mioda declared, twitching her nose for effect. "Ibuki can smell Nagito-chan's fishy excuse from a mile away!"
"Sorry, but it's true!" Komaeda explained as he moved toward Hinata, who moved to meet him as well. "I can't really turn it off."
He placed both hands on Hinata's cheeks and pressed his lips to the other boy's, and Nanami could see Hinata's face blanche slightly before going particularly rosy. That lasted for about seven seconds, and the more perceptive of the other students noticed Hinata's jaws open a little ways in.
"I just realized, this would be better with alcohol," Hanamura remarked, holding up his index finger with an intensely bright expression like he'd just come up with the cure for cancer.
"Don't," Koizumi ordered with a wide-eyed glare. "Just. Do not."
"I'm definitely going to have to consider finding alcohol," Hanamura went on, seeming not to notice her speaking.
"Does he not even hear things ever?" Koizumi complained.
Once Komaeda and Hinata were done embarrassing themselves, Hinata spun the bottle, his face still slightly flushed. The bottle made its rounds for a few seconds, just barely missing Tanaka and stopping on Owari instead. "Sweet hot booty hell yeah!" Owari congratulated herself, bouncing aggressively and throwing her hands up in the air. She subsequently did not seem humiliated at the phrase she had just emitted, and continued, "Yo Hinata, you can touch my boobs too, if you want!"
Everybody was quiet for a couple seconds after that, with Saionji clutching at her stomach with both arms and shaking violently as if trying not to laugh, until Hinata replied, "Yeah, I'm so gonna pass on that."
Owari held his gaze for a moment, her expression mostly blank. "Well you just don't know how to have fun, do you," she summarized.
"No, do it," Souda suggested. "It's the most action any of us is gonna get during this game anyway."
"Which," Hanamura cut in, emphasizing the word to make sure everyone was paying attention to him, "will change with alcohol."
"One more word and I'll make Owari punch you," Kuzuryuu threatened.
"Screw that, I'm gonna get my kiss on," Owari disagreed, scooting over to Hinata and--the right word would be snatching. Snatching his face and pressing her lips against his. There was an "ooh" from the other side of the circle as well as a confused "wow."
"By the way, Souda," Koizumi remarked as Owari released Hinata from her grip, "it'd be nice if you don't use words like 'action?' I mean, there are ladies present."
"Oh, you mean 'cute girl winning streak' Mioda and 'sweet hot booty hell yeah' Owari?" Souda inquired. "Would those be the ladies you're referring to?"
Koizumi cleared her throat. "Yes, the very same," she affirmed, trying to sound confident and/or like nothing about what Souda had said contradicted her at all.
"Um, w-wait, does this mean, um..." Tsumiki trailed off. "Th-that everybody has had a turn...?"
"Ahem!" Nidai coughed.
"O-oh!" Tsumiki cried, leaning away from Nidai and covering her face. "I-I'm so sorry, Nidai-san, I d-didn't mean t-to forget you! I'm sorry, please don't hate me!"
"Yeah, Tsumiki, try to say something useful for once!" Saionji giggled, grinning widely at her.
"I-I said, I'm sorry!" Tsumiki protested, curling into herself and tearing up slightly. "I-I really am, I'm sorry!"
"It is not a problem, Tsumiki!" Nidai assured her. "In fact, I don't feel the need to take a turn--I've been content to watch how you all interact!"
"Wow, way to totally say something we can take the wrong way," Kuzuryuu muttered.
"Aw, does that mean we're done playing?" Nanami asked. "I was just starting to enjoy this game..."
"Plus, nobody got paired up with the same person three times!" Hanamura added.
"That's probably for the best," Pekoyama noted hastily. "We never really did establish what would happen if that were to occur."
"Then Ibuki thinks we should keep playing until it happens!" Mioda insisted.
"If you keep playing, then I'm seriously not participating," Togami told them, standing up from his spot in the circle.
"As I warned earlier, Invading Red Dragon Maga-G must take in a meal to prevent his power from depleting completely," Tanaka added, also standing.
"Yeah," Owari declared, getting on her knees and stretching with an exaggerated yawn. "Now that I got to kiss someone, I'm pretty much beat."
"Really? One kiss and you're exhausted?" Kuzuryuu asked with a raised eyebrow. "I feel bad for anyone you've ever had a relationship with."
Everybody started to rise from their seats. Even Hanamura, who obviously wanted to keep playing--and procure some kind of alcohol while they were at it--and Mioda, who was clearly invested in completing her quest of kissing all the girls present, began to stand up, rationalizing that the game had pretty much run its course.
Nanami was feeling slightly cheated. As she had said, she was just starting to have fun playing spin the bottle, and now they were taking it away from her. To be honest, she kind of wanted everyone to stay in a group and keep playing, or at least doing something. She really liked it when they were all in a group and hanging out like this; even if she got sleepy easily and couldn't always participate, she liked for them to do group activities and games.
So she devised a plan to make sure nobody would leave, at least not for now. It wasn't something she was proud of in retrospect (or even in the instant she was doing it), but she knew it would get the job done.
"Hinata-kun and Komaeda-kun kissed upstairs," she informed everybody.
Instantly all eyes were on her, including the two boys in question. Hinata's face became the color of old bricks; Komaeda made a sound like "hntnttn" (which could really be pronounced however, but that was what it sounded like); and everyone else just stared, wide-eyed, at the still sitting Nanami. The Super High-school Level Gamer fought a grin that wanted to spread across her face as everyone simultaneously sat back down and kept their attention on her.
"Nanami!" Hinata yelped. Komaeda just kind of spluttered out some stuff that didn't make sense.
"Those lucky bastards," Owari remarked, using that expression for the second time today.
"Was it deep?" Koizumi inquired.
"Were they just like kissing kissing or were they seriously making out?" Hanamura added.
"Did either of them act more dominant than the other?" Sonia asked.
"Tell us everything in explicit detail," Saionji demanded.
Nanami was a little disappointed that they had stopped playing spin the bottle--but, she supposed, still fighting that grin, this could be a fun game, too.